Mistaken Souls
by K-Chan7
Summary: Stars primarily my friend Neko and myself (K-Chan), as well as Sesshomaru and Naraku of Inu Yasha--and what would happen if they kidnapped us . . .
1. Default Chapter

Mistaken Souls

M**istaken** S****ouls

By

K-Chan

*General disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Rumiko Takahashi, nor do I presume to call any of her characters my own.

Chapter One

"Merry Christmas!" echoed in double-chorus as the two friends greeted each other. A few downy flakes hung lazily in the background as Neko closed the front door and shook snow from her dark, curled hair. Neko and K-Chan simultaneously thrust brightly wrapped packages towards the other and demanded, "You first!"

"Oh, but I insist, you're the guest," K-Chan said with a debonair bow. Neko consented by tearing into the tacky wrapping paper and digging deeply to reveal . . .

"An _Inu-Yasha_ cos-play necklace and Sesshô-maru UFO catcher plushieeeeeeeee!" Neko squealed, nearly knocking her friend to the ground in an over-exuberant embrace. "Okay, your turn!"

K-Chan's eyes sparkled in anticipation. She'd known that her friend would love the accessory based from one of their favorite mangas that resembled a blue-beaded rosary with claw-like stones at odd intervals. Curious, she broke into Neko's present for her, and was thrilled to death at what she found.

"You got me a cos-play necklace, too!" Only Neko had gotten K-Chan a replica of the Shikon no Tama, or Jewel of Four Souls, which was said to possess the power to fulfill any desire. Intervals of diamond-shaped beads were meant to represent shards of the jewel, and the half of blue orb in the center sparkled with reflections of the decorative blinking lights around the room. 

"There's more, there's more, there's more!" Neko urged her friend. Further search revealed a hand-made stuffed doll representation of Naraku, who was only K-Chan's favored _Inu-Yasha_ villain.

"Dude, you're the best!" she thanked Neko, who was madly rubbing her UFO plushy against her forehead. K-Chan squeezed the Naraku doll, and to her delight, it squeaked. In ritualistic fashion similar to that of a dog marking its territory, K-Chan gnawed happily on Naraku's stuffed ear and sighed contentedly.

It was too soon that Neko had to go home, but it was a school night, although the two knew that classes would be a joke for the next two days before vacation. Still, Neko and K-Chan's mothers insisted that the party was over.

"I'll see you tomorrow in homeroom!" Neko promised with a departing wave. K-Chan squeaked Naraku as a final farewell.

Later in her room, as K-Chan prepared for sweet repose, she felt a sudden chill. Looking up, she watched as her curtains billowed out into the room, followed by a light swirl of snow. 

'Hmm. Odd,' she thought as she shut the window and pulled the drapes tightly closed. She didn't remember opening her window any time recently. Shrugging it off, she studied herself in front of her vanity mirror, lazily running a boar-bristle brush through her long auburn locks. The Shikon no Tama necklace winked back at her.

The figure watching her from her closet, amidst assorted shoes and a kimono bathrobe, had a clear view of the necklace as well. "Kukukukuku . . ." the stranger laughed under his breath.

Snuggled under three extra blankets, sleep came easily to K-Chan that night. The figure slinked out into the cover of darkness, watching K-Chan closely, listening to the evenness of her breathing. The necklace shone even in the dark. One of the stranger's hands slowly creeped from below the white-fur, pelt-like cloak it was wearing and touched the accessory, turning the small bauble over with his fingers, feeling its smoothness. A sneering smile stretched across the man's face. Now that he had this, there was no need for the girl. He drew his sword, ready to slice her in halves with his sharp skill, when he stopped suddenly, noticing the white furry replica of himself that lay beside K-Chan, her arm thrown lovingly over it. He slipped it from underneath her embrace to inspect it more closely.

"A voodoo doll?" he wondered. If the girl had magic, perhaps it was not wise to just kill her and be done. Then again, how much harm could she do while sleeping? Frustrated, he clenched the figurine tightly in his hand, only to hear it emit a long, sad wail. Startled, he dropped it and prepared to cut its head off when K-Chan's eyes fluttered open.

The two stared at each other for a good, long while—the stranger hidden beneath the pelt of what seemed to be a baboon, holding a sword aimed at Neko's squeaky Naraku gift, and K-Chan, in the black tank-top she slept in and red plaid boxer shorts. K-Chan recovered first; she wasn't sure of the what, why, or how, but she was one hundred percent on the "who".

"Naraku?" she whispered, incredulous. If anything, this only convinced Naraku that the girl, though most definitely human, harbored mystical powers somewhere inside of her. She was a stranger to him, and yet she knew his name. Naraku was determined not to let that phase him, however. Letting the sword clatter to the floor, he bent over the girl so suddenly that she gasped, and he placed his hand over where her heart would be.

"One wrong move," he warned, "and I will tear out your heart with my bear hands and crush it in front of you." A normal person would have been intimidated by such a threat. Naraku had underestimated K-Chan. 

"You have your hand on my chest," K-Chan informed him, half inquisitive and half amused. With a start, Naraku recoiled as though he'd touched something vile. Apparently, stealing the Shikon no Tama from this girl was going to be more of a challenge than he thought. Picking up his sword, and wondering why he hadn't just done this in the first place, he back-handed the girl hard enough across the face to render her unconscious, then slipped out into the night, carrying his hostage.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Chapter Two

When K-Chan didn't show up for school the next day, Neko called her at home during her lunch period. 'Maybe she's sick and took a day off,' Neko pondered. But the phone rang thrice and the answering machine picked up, offering no more clues as to K-Chan's whereabouts. Neko dismissed it, thinking that K-Chan was probably asleep.

But when K-Chan wasn't answering the phone that afternoon either, Neko proceeded over to her house to investigate. As soon as she got off the bus after school, she ran to her friend's house, only to find it empty. K-Chan's large dog barked at Neko from his doghouse in the backyard.

"Konnichiwa, Quincy-kun!" Neko greeted the typically friendly beast. But something was amiss. The dog was growling and straining at his chain as though he was trying to get at some invisible intruder. Puzzled, Neko went to try and calm him down. Quincy knew her scent, but he reacted to her as though she was a stranger. Too late, Neko came to a sudden realization.

"You are not K-Chan's-" but before she could say "dog," the world around her went black. Had she been conscious, she would have seen "Quincy" disappear (for the real Quincy was lying curled up on a rug inside next to a toasty radiator) and the handsome dog-demon Sesshô-maru take his place. Sesshô-maru looked down at Neko disdainfully. He had followed Naraku to this world in a race for Shikon shards, only for this brush encounter with a human teenage female. Neither Naraku nor Shikon shards were anywhere to be found. But there was something interesting about this girl. Upon closer inspection, Sesshô-maru realized that she was wearing his brother's rosary. That human girl, Kagome, used it to repress his brother by saying . . . what was the word? Sit.

As Neko came around, her eyelids twitching and a painful groan emitting from her throat, Sesshô-maru tempted the powerful magic of the rosary. "Sit," he commanded evenly. Neko, who had propped herself up into a pseudo-seated position, suddenly found herself jet-propelled back onto the ground.

"Oro . . ." she moaned. That blow to the head had been painful enough, and now this. A cos-play necklace that really worked!?!? But forgetting that for a moment, had she really just seen . . . ?

Sure enough, as Neko hesitantly sat back up, at the risk of being "sitted" again, she stared into the trademark poker-face of her one true love, Sesshô-maru. 

"Sess-sama?" Neko's tone was questioning. Sesshô-maru widened his eyes by a fraction of an inch, the only indication that he was the least bit perplexed. How did this repulsive human know his name? Well, there was only one way to find out.

"Not that it matters all that much, as far as I'm concerned," he began, "but how did you know my name, and why are you wearing that tacky accessory of my brother's?"

Neko's eyes went wide with glee. "It . . . . it really is you!" she rejoiced, bounding at Sesshô-maru. "Can I wear your boa?"

"Sit," the dog demon yawned, and Neko plunged to the ground once more.

"I wish you'd stop that," she growled through a mouthful of dirt and snow. A thought struck her, and she raised her hands to her neck. 'I'll just take it off,' she thought. 'After all, it's only a cos-play necklace, right?' 

To Neko's dismay, the necklace clung to her as though the claw-like projections were digging into her skin. The next thing she knew, she had been hefted into the air and was slung over Sesshô-maru's shoulder like a sack of flour, backpack and all.

"Put me down!" she shrieked immediately as a reflex, then thought about that a moment. "On second thought, you really don't have to! Um, where are we going?"

Sesshô-maru sighed. "Kisama . . ." he growled, then without warning, leapt into a deep hole in K-Chan's backyard.

"GAAAAAAH!" Neko screamed as they splashed down. "I thought this was a _dry_ well!"

Muttering something about the mediocrity of humanity, Sesshô-maru waded through the waist-deep water to the edge of the so-called "dry well" and began to scale the rocks effortlessly, with Neko still clinging to his shoulder.

* * * ^-^ * * *

When K-Chan opened her eyes, she found herself in an unfamiliar room surrounded by candles and incense. Her captor was nowhere to be seen.

Wincing, she sat up shakily, the swirling smoke clouding her senses. Leaning over on her side, a loud and indignant squeak made her leap to her feet. Needless to say, she was surprised to find Neko's Naraku doll beside her.

"How in all nine levels of hell did that get here?" she pondered, picking up the flaccid doll. After a beat, she rephrased, "How did I get here, as a matter of fact?"

"Awake, I see," a cold voice sneered from behind her. She turned to see Naraku, sans pelt, staring at her from the doorway. K-Chan's heart nearly beat itself out of her chest. She clutched the Naraku doll in her titillation.

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK! 

Naraku actually leapt back like a skittish cat as though he expected the doll, or K-Chan, or both, to spit fire. K-Chan saw clearly then, and smirked.

"You're afraid of my . . . voodoo doll, aren't you?!" she improvised. Naraku glared at her through the slits of his eyelids. K-Chan gave the doll a short, sharp squeak in Naraku's direction. He jumped slightly.

"Do that again, and I swear, I will-"

SQUEAK!

"I'm warning you, girl-"

SQUEAK! K-Chan started to advance.

"Don't you even dare-"

SQUEAK! 

"How did I get here?" K-Chan demanded, holding the squeaky doll at arm's length towards a distrustful Naraku. However, Naraku was not so easily beat.

"Give me the Shikon no Tama," he demanded. K-Chan could be pretty street smart, and she knew that he was ready to bargain.

"Quid pro quo, Naraku—you tell me things, I give you things," she offered. Once he learned she didn't have the _real_ Shikon no Tama, K-Chan was guessing, she would have found a way to escape and get back home.


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

When Sesshô-maru and Neko emerged from the well, Neko found that they had indeed traveled back in time through the dry well in K-Chan's yard. The scene was right out of an Inu-Yasha anime. 

Sesshô-maru shrugged her to the ground. Neko fell on her back, indignant.

"That was rude!" she accused, recalling K-Chan's trademark Hannibal Lecter quote, "I find rudeness unspeakably ugly."

Sesshô-maru ignored her comment, and asked simply, "What do you know of my brother?"

"Inu Yasha?" Neko peered at Sesshô-maru quizzically. 

"Yes, him," Sesshô-maru spat. "More specifically, where did you get that necklace of his? You must have come into contact with him at one time or another."

"No, actually . . . I mean, uh . . . this was a gift . . . from K-Chan," Neko fumbled.

"K-Chan?" Sesshô-maru raised an eyebrow, the slightest show of interest in the name of Neko's friend.

"Yeah, K-Chan. She's a good friend of mine. She gave me this cos-play necklace for Christmas."

More interested than he wanted to show, but knowing that the whereabouts of this K-Chan were important, he knelt before his captive, to Neko's surprise. Very carefully, Sesshô-maru asked her, "Does this K-Chan possess any Shikon no Tama fragments?"

"Not really . . . I mean, I gave her the cos-play necklace-" Neko suddenly cut herself short and sat upright. "Sesshô-maru, I thought this necklace was fake, but it really works, just like Inu Yasha's rosary! So if _my_ cos-play necklace is real . . ."

"Then this necklace that you gave your friend may also be a fraction of the real Shikon no Tama," he concluded for her, standing up and helping Neko to her feet. "Come. We must move quickly."

* * * ^-^ * * *

Naraku and K-Chan sat facing each other, the squeaky doll in K-Chan's lap so that she could use it as necessary. 

"Okay. Me first," K-Chan insisted. "How did you bring me here?"

"Kukukukuku," Naraku laughed cynically. "Through the well, of course. It was so easy."

K-Chan stared at Naraku in stunned silence. "You mean . . . my well?" she asked softly.

"Of course. What well did you think?"

K-Chan rested her forehead on the palm of her left hand. "It works . . ." she whispered to herself. "Holy crap, it really works!" She laughed out loud, then jumped up. "I have to tell Neko—she'll be thrilled!"

"Not so fast," Naraku stopped her. "You owe me something now." He held out his hand expectantly.

"Oh, oh yeah, that," K-Chan remembered. Removing her cos-play necklace, she unstrung one of the "shards" and tossed it to Naraku. She began pacing the room like a panther, thinking to herself.

"If I can be of no more help to you, then I suggest you hand over the rest of the jewel," Naraku warned coldly. Suddenly amiss of her Naraku squeaky, K-Chan looked to see that the real Naraku had possession of it.

'Uh, oh,' she thought, beginning to sweat lightly. 'This is not good.' For the doll was the only reason that Naraku had been intimidated by her in the least. Chuckling maniacally, Naraku sliced the doll upwards so the stuffing spilled over, then defenestrated the offensive item far out into the night.

"Noooooooooooooooooo!" K-Chan bemoaned, running to the window, but it was too dark to see where the object landed. Suddenly K-Chan became very, very tense. It was easy to hold down an infatuation with Naraku when he was just a character in some book, but now his being very real, and quite dangerous, put K-Chan on her guard. And right now, she knew what her best defense mechanism was, and it certainly wasn't fighting.

Instead, she turned to face her captor and sank to her knees in a respectful bow. "Forgive me, _waka_," [_waka_ is a term that means "young master"; it's what Naraku's servants call him] K-Chan pleaded. 

"I should kill you here and now," came the cold response. K-Chan bit her lip so hard that the salty tang of her own blood trickled into her mouth. He wouldn't . . . really kill her, would he? 

It occurred to K-Chan that he just might.

Wiping the blood from her lip with the back of a slightly shaking hand, K-Chan spoke again. "Naraku _no-donna_," she tried again, [_no-donna _also means "master"] "be-before you do kill me . . ." she looked up slightly, but didn't dare stare Naraku in the face, "can I make you an offer?"

"Kukukuku . . ." Naraku laughed. "What else could you possibly have that I would want?"

"Well . . ." K-Chan began, getting to her feet, "if you let me live . . . I'm a really good cook!" she burst out, fishing for more—and better—ideas. She ran back to the window, desperate to try anything, and began wiping off some of the dust and grime covering the panes with the bottom of her shirt. "Witness my ability to wash windows! I can clean!" she offered, then prostrated herself again in front of Naraku. "I can do anything for you, but only if I'm alive."

Naraku pondered this for a moment, then shrugged nonchalantly. "You are only worth my while because of the Shikon no Tama," he concluded. "Farewell, then," and he raised his sword.

Desperate and panicking, K-Chan cried out and rolled away from the blow as Naraku brought the sword down violently. Clutching for her necklace, K-Chan ripped it from her neck, scattering the shards on the floor before her. Not stopping to look back, she grasped the shards with both hands, then flung them as far as she could out into the night. 

'Even if they're not real, if others find the shards,' she thought to herself, 'then at least Naraku won't have them, and go after them and forget about me.'

A severe, sharp pain to her chest almost made K-Chan scream aloud. She doubled over as though she had been shot through the heart.

"Insolent bitch," Naraku spat at her. "Does it hurt?" Naraku advanced slowly, standing over the suffering girl. The throbbing in K-Chan's heart intensified, and gasping for breath, she passed out. Naraku's shadow fell over her, and he went for his sword once more, then stopped. Perhaps he could make good with her after all.


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

When K-Chan next awoke, she was staring into the unfamiliar face of a pretty young woman who appeared to be attending on her. A dull ache still resided in her chest, and K-Chan rubbed her ribs, which felt as though they were severely bruised. The woman took notice.

"Feeling any better? You were very foolish to upset _waka_ like that," she reprimanded.

"I'm alive?" the bewildered K-Chan put to no one in particular. The young woman gave a short, amused giggle.

"I don't know why—if it had been I who had spoken to him in such a way, I would surely have found myself a premature grave. You may call me Yôka. What is your name?" [The Japanese word _yôka_ actually means "eighth." In this case, the young woman was the eighth born, and had parents cruel enough to name her as such. Actually, I thought it was pretty . . .]

"K-K-chan," she stammered. "Look, if it's not too much trouble . . . could you get me an ice pack or an aspirin? My chest is killing me."

"Here, drink this," Yôka offered, having no clue what in all the nine levels of hell an "aspirin" was. K-Chan gratefully accepted the cup from the woman's outstretched hand and drank deeply, only to suddenly feel as though her throat was on fire. She gagged and sputtered.

"You could have warned me! I thought that was water!"

"The sake will restore your spirits as well as your health," Yôka informed her belligerent patient. 

"You're telling me," K-Chan muttered, taking a lighter sip of the drink. 

* * * ^-^ * * *

Neko trudged after Sesshô-maru wearily. "Can we take a break yet?"

"No," came the heartless answer.

Neko sighed, nearly tripping over a root. 'Where the hell are we going?' she thought. "Can we take a break yet?" she appealed again.

"Kisama . . . no!" Sesshô-maru growled. 

"Can I have a piggy-back ride at least?" Neko petitioned. Sesshô-maru glanced backwards ever-so-slightly just in time to witness Neko take a plunge face-first towards a mud puddle. Before she had time to hit, however, she found herself tucked under Sesshô-maru's arm, then swung up to his shoulders. 

"You are such an inconvenience—but without you, we would never find K-Chan, and without K-Chan, this Sesshô-maru wouldn't find Naraku. At least this way will be faster; hold on," he commanded. Neko obeyed, wrapping her arms around Sesshô-maru's neck. Grinning, she pressed her face to his tail, which was draped over his shoulder.

"So . . . soft," she sang out happily, thinking, 'This has got to be one of the best days of my life!"

A vocalization of "And where do you think you're going so fast?" pulled Neko out of her daydreams. She raised her eyes and stared into the face of her one (other) true love, Miroku, a Buddhist priest with a lusty penchant for women. Behind him was Inu Yasha, Sesshô-maru's half-breed brother and Miroku's traveling companion. 

Sesshô-maru looked down at his brother and the lecherous monk haughtily. "I don't have time to play with you currently-" he began in a tone that was an interesting combination of boredom and spite. He was rather suddenly distracted, however, as Neko sprang at Miroku and clung onto him tightly. The befuddled priest staggered backwards and would have fallen had he not steadied himself on his shoukaju [the staff that he carries around]. "Wha-what is this?" he stammered. Neko, her eyes as wide as dinner plates, looked up at Miroku with a look on her face that was almost crack-induced. 

"It's you . . ." she whispered, then with a sudden jolt of added enthusiasm, "Now I have you _and_ Fluffy-sama!"

After a beat of silence in which all save Neko found to be very uncomfortable, Inu Yasha found his voice. 

"Flu-Fluffy-sama?" He snickered, trying to cover more laughter with a cough. "Going soft on us, brother?"

Sesshô-maru looked as though he was ready to commit homicide. The ever-present glare in his eyes only hardened. Miroku, meanwhile, was looking like he was having not so bad a day himself.

"Hey, you're cute," he flattered Neko, who blushed a shade of red that doesn't come in a box of Crayolas. He leaned in closer and added, "You look like the type who falls for guys with hardships beyond their control. Not that I complain much, but mine is a tragic tale . . ."

"Don't even start," Inu Yasha growled, still locked in the staring contest with Sesshô-maru, who was watching the quasi-amusing scene with a slightly interested air.

"Oh, all right, I'll get to the point," Miroku sighed.

"YES! Yes, I will bear your child!" Neko exploded suddenly. "But only after we've dated a year first."

Miroku looked a little stunned. Was this girl telepathic that she could second-guess his thoughts? Oh, well, it didn't matter all that much to him. 

"I can tell we're going to get along _very_ well," he beamed, snaking an arm across Neko's shoulders. Neko felt as though she had just devoured through an entire case shipment of chemical pops.

[*A note to the unwary reader: chemical pops are a commodity that I created, kind of a depiction of drugs, but moreover, they simply represent the act of becoming extremely sugar high to the point where you begin to ponder if the Hokey Pokey really _is_ what it's all about.]

"That's settled then," Sesshô-maru cut in. "This girl is your problem now." Turning his back on the motley trio, he bounded out of sight.

"Wait! Fluffy, come back!" Neko cried suddenly, pulling herself from Miroku's wandering embrace. Miroku looked hurt.

"How typical. Dammit, why do the cute ones always go for the _youkai_?" 

* * * ^-^ * * *

Two days had passed, and there had still been no sign of K-Chan, Naraku, or the well that would take Neko back home. 

"Not that I really _want_ to go back . . ." she informed her compatriots, having filled them in from where this whole saga began. As the two men discussed and planned, Neko's thoughts turned to what she had just said. When the time came—after they had found K-Chan, and the well—would she, indeed, really want to go home?

Pondering this, she kicked at a small mound of leaves only to be answered by a broken, pathetic squeak that sounded a little too familiar.

"It can't be . . ." she thought, then dug in the ground to reveal the squeaky Naraku doll that she had given K-Chan for Christmas! K-Chan was here! That much was good news, at least the two of them had traveled backwards in time into feudal Japan together, but . . .

"Inu Yasha? Miroku?" The two stopped their politicking and turned to face Neko, who held the disheveled doll before them.

"I-I gave this to K-Chan as a present . . ." she began, but trailed off, needing to go no further. Both men could see that the doll had been sliced upward by some sharp object, and where K-Chan was concerned, the outlook was not good at all.


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

It had been two days since her kidnapping, and K-Chan had seen no sign of Naraku since the night that he had taken her. She was pondering escape when he summoned for her.

"_Waka_ has sent for you," Yôka informed her. K-Chan had been staring idly out of the window, watching the day roll by slowly before her. It was the only view she had as a prisoner. She turned slightly towards Yôka, and the young Japanese woman noticed a distressed look on K-Chan's face. The two had become friends during K-Chan's time at Naraku's castle, and now Yôka stepped towards the girl, concerned.

"K-Chan-sama? Is everything all right?"

K-Chan sighed deeply and returned her gaze to the slowly sinking sun. She wasn't exactly sure of how to put into words the emotions that had settled into her heart. Despite the circumstances of her being held prisoner, K-Chan had never felt so . . . well, at home in her life. 

"I don't know," she began finally, after having been silent for several moments. "I guess—I guess what bothers me most is the ever-impending thought of my going back home. And yet at the same time . . . I feel like I am home. Back—in my world, I never felt like there was a place for me. I felt so different from everyone, and I never knew what it was. Still, I can't place my finger on it, but here . . . now . . . I know that I belong." She paused, then asked, "Does that make sense?"

"Perfectly," a low male voice answered her. Startled, K-Chan turned to see that Yôka had left, apparently before K-Chan's soliloquy, and Naraku had taken her place. Embarrassed, she turned her face away from the youkai.

"I-I'm sorry," she stammered, "I should have come when you sent for me."

"You really . . . feel at home here?" Naraku persisted, coaxing K-Chan to confide a little more. When the girl said nothing, he placed his hand on her shoulder. She started at his touch, rather taken aback, but somehow managed to slightly relax. "K-Chan," he said seriously. She looked back at him over her left shoulder. He was without his pelt, and his face was very serious. "There is something that you should know—that I should tell you."

* * * ^-^ * * *

It what could only be described as a miracle, Neko ran through the forest, keeping ahead of Miroku and even Inu Yasha. 'Please be alive, K-Chan, please, please don't be dead!' she silently wished. The castle couldn't be that far—and then suddenly, there it was, looming before her like a brooding shadow. She stopped suddenly and caught her breath as Inu Yasha and Miroku came up after her, panting, a look of awe painted on both of their perspiring faces. Determined, Neko made her way towards the castle, only to be yanked backwards by Miroku.

"Are you crazy?" Inu Yasha hissed at her. "What sort of sick and twisted death wish do you have?"

"Don't do anything stupid, Neko," Miroku agreed in a somewhat softer tone. "You're underestimating Naraku."

Neko glared at the both of them then jabbed an index finger in the general direction of the gloomy castle. "My friend is in there," she began. "Dead or alive, I don't know for sure. But I do know that if our roles were reversed, K-Chan would run barefoot through hell to save me, and there's no way that I'm gonna let that Naraku bastard hurt her!"

The two men looked at little stunned at Neko's sudden ferocity. They didn't have too long to be idle, however, as they were suddenly attacked by a swarm of saimyoushou [hell wasps] and one of Naraku's very own golems, a perfect replica of himself with his pelt on.

"Crap!" Inu Yasha swore, drawing Tetsusaiga and knowing that this one was all on him. Miroku couldn't open his Air Rip with the saimyoushou flying ominously about. Neko was at a loss as to what she could do to help out when the golem spoke directly to her, although simultaneously fighting Inu Yasha.

"Forget about your friend K-Chan," it warned her. "If you come any further for her, I swear," it growled, "I'll murder her."

In that moment, Inu Yasha swung true and sliced off the golem's right arm. Neko took this golden opportunity to rush forward, despite pleading from Miroku not to, and grab the sword that the golem had been using. As a final hurrah, she swung angrily, satisfied when the golem's head fell to the ground and the whole thing burst into a crumbling heap of dirt, at the center of which was a small wooden doll with one of Naraku's own hairs wrapped around it.

"Another puppet," Miroku observed, then followed Inu Yasha's gaze to Neko. "Where did you learn . . . ?" he began, then trailed off, at a loss for words. Neko glanced at him, then looked back to the broken mass of what could have killed them only moments before.

"Don't you ever threaten me like that again," she spat, then, speaking to her compatriots, added, "Are you coming or not?"

* * * ^-^ * * *

"Everything created has a soul, K-Chan," Naraku began. "Even the minions that I bring to life by my own will. And a soul can transcend time and space.

"Several years ago, I created a young female to be of service to me. She was to be just another slave, but something . . . happened. To me." Naraku shifted his gaze from K-Chan to the wooden floor, then whispered, "I, Naraku . . . fell in love with her. 

"Yes, I!" he stated again, more adamantly, as though he scarcely could believe it of himself. "It should not have been, but it was. I called her Kanai . . ."

'Wife,' K-Chan thought, recalling the little bit of Japanese she could comprehend. She bit her lip, not quite understanding where Naraku was going. Why was he telling her all of this? 

"I knew that we could never be together, and I thought, 'I'll kill her, and she will never come to mind again,'" Naraku continued. "I slew her and felt as though I had murdered a part of myself, but naively, I figured that my troubles with her would be over, that she could never come back to me now. And yet, somehow . . ." he paused and lifted his eyes again to K-Chan, " . . . she did."

Suddenly, his words began to sink in. K-Chan's heart knocked against her ribs as though it would beat itself out of her chest. The infatuation with Naraku, why he hadn't killed her, the feelings of belonging . . . it was all beginning to add up.

Naraku was still speaking to her. "You have no father, K-Chan. Surely why has crossed your mind . . ."

[*Note: this part is, albeit loosely, based on fact—K-Chan was a test tube baby, or so she has been told all of her life . . . ^-^]

K-Chan took a frightened step backwards. This was too much, all at once. "My father . . . he . . . I . . ." 

In the most chivalrous gesture of his life, Naraku outstretched a friendly hand towards the quaking girl, but K-Chan could only turn and run, fleeing from the words that could have been true. Did she believe him? Of course, he could be lying . . . but then, how could he have known about her origins, of the unnatural method of her birth . . .?

A miasma of volatile thoughts thunder stormed in K-Chan's brain. 'Fact or false, there is an iota of truth to his words. I was not born—I was created. _I . . . was . . . created . . ._"


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Neko half expected to be ambushed by a thousand youkai once she got close to the castle, yet the premises was disturbingly still. 'Now what?' she mused.

Thinking along the same lines, Inu Yasha snorted, "Do you think we should ring the bell first to be polite, or can we just let ourselves inside?"

Determined and afraid for K-Chan, Neko made up her mind and pushed on the heavy oak doors with all of her might. To her surprise, they opened easily. All of her senses heightened as she put herself on guard. 

"It must be a trap," Miroku established. "No villain would just leave his doors wide open to the public. What are you planning, Naraku?"

As if on cue, a swarm of various minion youkai teemed about the motley trio. Too late for turning back, Neko and Inu Yasha stood armed and ready to fight, and Miroku's fingers tensed on the rosary beads that temporarily sealed his Air Rip, ready to remove them as soon as necessary. 

Inu Yasha was a strong fighter, and Neko proved to be able to hold her own quite well. Miroku did what he could, careful to avoid the ominous saimyoushou that seemed ever present. 

"Inu Yasha!" Neko called to her companion, "use the move with Tetsusaiga that you did in book eleven!" she pleaded. The youkai railed against her, and Neko was unsure of just how long she could hold them off. They seemed endless, and the feeble sword she had picked up off of the golem was close to powerless against them.

"What the hell are you talking about?!?!" Inu Yasha exploded. Neko silently swore, wishing that Inu Yasha had read his own books. 

At that moment, a rather immense hawk-like youkai sailed into Inu Yasha and sank its talons deep into the flesh of his right arm. He cried out, almost more in anger than in pain, accidentally letting Tetsusaiga fall from his grasp. In that slow-moment motion of utter desperation, Neko got a twinge of a crazy idea, the kind that one only experiences under pressure of that sort. Maybe there was another reason that the cos-play rosary worked on her after all . . .

Not wasting the chance, she flung herself at Tetsusaiga and landed on her stomach just as her small fist grasped the hilt of the currently un-transformed blade. As more youkai advanced, Neko felt a surge of power as though her body was conducting electricity. Rolling over to her back, she swung Tetsusaiga, now fully transformed, as hard as she could, thinking over and over, 'I'm gonna save K-Chan . . . _this one's for her!_" Tetsusaiga glowed brilliantly as though it were feeding off of the power Neko felt. In that instant, with that one fatal wave of the sword, the massive throng of youkai burst apart, slaughtered by the violent power behind Neko's swing.

As beads of sweat rolled off of her face, Neko let her entire body go limp with relief. She rested the back of her head on the cool wood of the floor and shut her eyes, a sense of triumph filling her veins as the torrent of strength had just moments before. "I . . . I did it . . ."

Miroku and Inu Yasha, meanwhile, looked upon Neko with newfound respect. Miroku helped Neko to her feet, stammering, "I . . . you . . . that was incredible!"

"I don't understand," Inu Yasha contemplated, half to himself. "Why did Tetsusaiga transform for you? And how did you know how to use it?"

"I don't have time to explain to you right now," Neko admitted, adding, "In fact, I'm not sure if I'm even sure I completely understand it myself. I think, however, it has something to do with this." And with that, she exposed the cos-play rosary that K-Chan had given her as a Christmas present. "It's a long story," was her response to Inu Yasha's shocked expression. "Come on, let's go find Naraku . . . and finish him. And if you don't mind," she added, holding up Tetsusaiga, which had gone back to its original form, "I'd like to hang onto this."

As it turns out, finding Naraku was not as challenging as Neko had anticipated. They found him seated in the same room where he had, unbeknownst to them, kept K-Chan, looking out the window and brooding to himself as she had done. K-Chan was no where in sight. Neko felt another surge of fury, and again, she let that go to her head and approached Naraku with no fear.

"Where is she?" Neko snarled viciously, her hand tensed on Tetsusaiga. Just let him see that she had this, and she'd show him what she could do with it.

"You must be Neko," Naraku welcomed her. "I've heard a lot about you in the past several days."

Neko took another bold step forward. "What the hell did you do to her? Where's K-Chan?" Neko demanded. Naraku turned his back on her, which threw Neko a little off-guard. Who would turn their back on an enemy? What was he trying to do?

"I honestly do not know," came his heartless reply. But if Neko could have seen his face, she might have noticed that his eyes were troubled. "But if you would like to make an arrangement, I'm sure that we could talk something out."

"The time for talk is over," Neko declared, then positioned herself in a fighting stance. "Are you ready to die, Naraku?"

Naraku turned his face towards her slightly. He appeared to be smirking. "If you kill me," he warned, "then K-Chan shall die as well. I'm only telling you this for her benefit."

"Bullshit!" Neko swore, ready to charge, when a soft voice stopped her.

"It's true."

Neko turned to see K-Chan, looking sad and distant, donned in a beautiful kimono. Neko was so relieved that she dropped Tetsusaiga and ran to her friend.

"K-Chan, oh my god, you're alive!" Neko threw her arms around her friend, but K-Chan returned the gesture with only a slight embrace. Neko pulled away and stared at K-Chan, who felt like a stranger. 

Inu Yasha, meanwhile, had repossessed Tetsusaiga and was advancing towards Naraku. Neko tried to step protectively in front of K-Chan, but K-Chan had other ideas and calmly placed herself between the on-coming dog demon and the pelt-less figure of Naraku. Inu Yasha recoiled.

"What the hell are you doing? Are you stupid? Get out of my way!" he barked. K-Chan looked at him through hollow eyes. 

"Back down," she commanded. "Neko, give me your rosary beads, please?"

The funny look on K-Chan's visage somehow made Neko obey. To her surprise, the beads slid over her head easily, and with trembling fingers she placed them into K-Chan's outstretched palm. 

"K-Chan . . ." Neko tried again, "I don't understand."

Without a word, K-Chan turned face-to-face with Naraku and slipped the rosary over his head, her hands brushing his soft black hair as she did so. Seeming that any word of suppression would work, she whispered, "Stay." Inu Yasha, Miroku and Neko were dumbfounded. He hadn't just . . . let her do that, had he?

K-Chan turned back to the stunned trio. "There. He can't hurt you now. Please . . . wait for me, just outside the room. I promise that I'll join you."

Observant to the pleading tone in K-Chan's voice, Neko slowly ushered Inu Yasha and Miroku out of the door. "I don't understand either," she admitted to them. "But K-Chan . . . seems to know what she's doing. Besides, we'll be right outside in case there's any trouble." Neko bit her lip, hoping that her male companions hadn't picked up on the incredible worry in her voice.

"We should have killed him," Inu Yasha protested bitterly. But he, too, remembered the vacant yet profound look on K-Chan's face, and remained silent after that.

'K-Chan,' Neko silently pleaded with her friend, 'what's going on?'

Back inside the room, K-Chan removed the beads and stared into the face of Naraku for the final time.

"The well . . . it's just beyond the woods surrounding my castle, to the North," he instructed her. K-Chan remained silent. "I . . . would get you there myself-"

"I understand," K-Chan promised. "Good-bye, Naraku." She turned and began a silent walk towards the door to freedom. As her hand touched the knob, Naraku's voice again called out to her.

"Kanai-" His voice was halting, not know the words to say. K-Chan couldn't face him, only quietly reply.

"My name . . . is K-Chan."

As she made her exit and closed the door behind her, Inu Yasha, Miroku, and Neko scrambled sheepishly into what they hoped were nonchalant positions. "We weren't eavesdropping," Miroku insisted.

K-Chan looked over, a flicker of her old self returning to her gray-blue eyes. With a grin slightly retained by sadness, she said, "Come on. Let's go home."


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"So you really weren't in need of a rescue after all?" Inu Yasha grumbled as the four made their trek towards the well, following K-Chan's directions. "Then what the hell were we there for?"

It had taken very little time for K-Chan to return to normal, and she had been laughing and talking with Neko—and flirting with Inu Yasha—since they had left Naraku's castle. 

"It doesn't matter. I still can't believe what you guys all went through for me because you thought I was in danger. Oh!" she added, turning to Neko and pulling the rosary from her kimono pocket, "I got this back for you. I can't believe that actually worked," K-Chan mused.

"Yeah, I couldn't believe it either," Neko agreed, slipping the cos-play accessory about her neck once more. "Who'd have thought a cos-play necklace would have actually worked?"

"Sit!" Inu Yasha and Miroku shouted at once, and Neko plummeted to the ground once again. 

"However it does have its drawbacks," Neko sputtered. K-Chan was bewildered.

"You mean . . . it really does work? Holy crap! I only used it on Naraku because I thought _he'd_ believe it was real, like my . . . oh, crap," K-Chan swore. Neko suddenly noticed the problem.

"Uh-oh. Your . . ." 

"Yeah. _My_ cos-play necklace, the 'replica' of the Shikon no Tama." K-Chan laughed sheepishly. "In a severe and desperate attempt to distract Naraku, I sort of . . ." Inu Yasha and Miroku glared at her, while Neko looked quasi-amused. "Um . . . I kind of . . . scattered the shards in all random directions, and they have most likely been picked up by many-a random youkai by this point, which could most possibly be classified as a bad thing . . . I'm assuming." She cowered under the two men's hard looks.

"You mean . . . _you threw away shards of **the**_ _Shikon no Tama_?!?!" 

"Hey, relax!" Neko scoffed at Inu Yasha and Miroku's anger. "You know what this means, right K-Chan?"

K-Chan grinned like the Cheshire cat. Yep, she was back, Neko decided. "It means we'll be returning to help our new friends search for the shards?" K-Chan guessed. Neko's matching smile told K-Chan that she was correct.

"I suppose we could put up with them, as long as it's only for short intervals," Inu Yasha agreed.

"And K-Chan, just in case Neko has a change of heart, I was wondering . . ." Miroku began, sidling up to K-Chan and attempting to look innocent. In the next instant, he had a rather large lump on his head, courtesy of Neko. He got her back with a sit, though.

"Hey, if you want, Neko, I can just take the rosary off," K-Chan suggested with a laugh.

Neko almost agreed, then recalled the power they had given her over Tetsusaiga. "Nah, I don't think so," she declined to everyone's surprise. "I think they may come in handy!"


End file.
